Slide
by Taisi
Summary: A hundred thoughts occured to him in an instant, and he focused on one: "Save them." In which there's a cave in, and Wally's claustrophic and very much alone.
1. I

A/N: My first YJ fic! :D I'm so excited about this, like, you don't even. I _love _this show. And I love Wally. Just, so much... My friend thinks he's annoying, 'cause I guess all heroes are supposed to be badass and hardcore, but the fact that he's so full of life and energy in spite of secret I.D.'s and daily flirtations with death and serious baddies - well, that's kinda awesome. He's kinda awesome. C: I love him good. I love the rest of them too, don't get me wrong.

Well, not Artemis. The team would've been some kind of awesome if it was Speedy (er, Red Arrow) there instead of her. But I guess every show's gotta have _that character._

-i-  
_slide_

The masked villain - a new baddie - sneered as he lifted a harmless looking remote above his head and pressed a button. "I trust this will make things more difficult for you," he snickered giddily, spinning in place and disappearing in a whirl of cloak and cape, leaving four confused YJ-leaguers and a multitude of frightened civilians standing dumbly in an otherwise very empty campground.

"I hate when they're crazy," Wally muttered after a tense beat of silence; and Kaldur shot him a small smile, half-amused, half-exasperated. Wally shrugged mentally; if his teammates were going to stand around and let things get dangerously close to a standstill, he'd be the one to get the ball rolling again.

Levity in the face of seriousness and gravity usually evoked some kind of reaction - and it was action he wanted, instead of ridiculous stillness and silence.

_This is where Robin would interject with something about how weird it is that there's a "re-" in front of the "action", _he mused, rocking back and forth on his heels.

"Crazy, maybe, but still potentially dangerous. We need to find out where he went," the Atlantian continued, glancing at the other two teammates present.

Megan looked apologetic. "I don't feel him anywhere nearby. If I were to strain - perhaps I might, but if that's necessary, he'd be far beyond our reach."

"Why cause a commotion and lure us out here, just to press a button and vanish?" Conner's voice was dangerously low. Wally couldn't help but smile at him; the clone just _hated _being confused.

"It doesn't add up," Kaldur agreed. "So let's contact the League and - "

The ground quaked from the force of a sudden explosion, and civilians cried out as trees toppled and heavy rock tumbled down the face of the mountain. They had the God-given sense to run, one less thing for the young heroes to worry about as they started moving steadily in the opposite direction as the crowd.

"So that device he had was a detonator?" Megan called out over the chaos.

"Some detonator." Wally was sweeping the area with eyes alert behind his goggles. Hyper-accelerated thoughts were filing up in his brain, thirty new ones replacing thirty old each millisecond. "If Rob were here he could've probably told us exactly what that stupid thing was."

No one had the chance to answer him, as the quaking and rumbling seemed to only get worse, in a very ominous way. "The explosion might have triggered a rockslide," Kaldur yelled. "We need to get all the people out of harm's way!"

As if on cue, a woman screamed and Wally whipped around in the same instant. Then he was _moving, _and the others were left to put together the situation in relative time. They were a team, but could Wally really sacrifice the precious moments it would take for them to catch up, or for him to explain? When lives were on the line, the answer was a spectacular, resounding _no._

There was a small cave on the far side of the grounds; it was once used for mining, but as of a few years ago, the mine had been abandoned, the shafts all closed up, and it was reduced nothing more than a hole in the side of the mountain. Apparently kids took to playing there; because there were two confused-looking children standing very much in the way of the collapsing rockface.

And as the pieces were still coming together for the other sidekicks, and horror was just beginning to set in, Wally bet it all on a chance in a million and yelled _"Superboy!" _as he dove under the mass of rock, lunging for the children; and Conner, who must have followed behind him when he realized the speedster had a plan in mind, caught the largest of the boulders on his shoulders, hefting them up with a growl - actively shielding Wally, who rolled around with impossible speed and grabbed the, by now terrified, civilian boys.

Then he glanced up into bright, determined blue eyes, and, for a split-second, hesitated. He could feel the rumbling getting louder. The kids in his arms were crying now, light hiccupping sobs, and he thought they couldn't be older than seven. Conner's face was strained as the weight doubled, tripled - he couldn't hold up for much longer.

A hundred thoughts occurred to him in an instant, and he focused on one.

_Save them._

With a split second left to spare, he tossed the children unceremoniously past his teammate and relatively out of harm's way, and, with an apologetic smile that flashed across his face so quickly there was a chance the clone never saw it, delivered a solid kick to Superboy's chest, that sent him flying back - out of the way of the next round of falling stone.

And then Wally was backing up until he felt solid rock behind his back, watching the stones pile up endlessly in the mouth of the small cave, blocking out the last of the light and leaving him confined in a small, dark place that - with each falling rock - was becoming steadily smaller.

He pressed his back against the wall of the cave and prayed for it to be over soon.


	2. II

A/N: Woah, that's a lot more reviews than I expected. xD Thanks so much, guys! I may change the secondary character, I may not, who knows... And I don't suspect this story is going to be very long. I'll crank out a few more chapters after this one.

The POVs will change occassionally, but it won't be hard to figure out. Oh, and - I'm learning to tolerate Artemis. C': We have fanfiction to thank for that.

-ii-  
_slide_

Once when he was twelve, he got stuck in an elevator.

He was with his aunt in an old apartment complex on the outskirts of Central City. She was meeting with the owner there to discuss a potential story about the history behind the building, and Wally had tagged along because it got him away from home for the weekend a little faster.

The man offered his aunt a tour, which she politely turned down in favor of talking business. Thinking she was crazy not to want to look around, Wally did so. He raced up flights of stairs, up and down the halls, in and out of rooms - and at the end of one of the halls he saw a weird little door on the wall.

It had actually been a dumbwaiter, not that he knew that then. All he knew, when he wrenched it open, was that it was something like an elevator, and somewhat _perfectly _his size. So he crawled in.

And it _fell_. Something wrong with the cables, he was so _stupid, _the thing had to have been a million years old, _would he die when it hit the ground - _

Hyper-accelerated thinking sucked sometimes, especially when you're a scared kid. He plummeted about three stories before the cables finally caught and the small lift was yanked to an abrupt stop. His heart was pounding in his chest painfully, and he was too scared to make a sound, too scared to _move, _worried about shifting his weight too far and unbalancing the stupid lift and making it fall again...

He'd sat there, curled into a tight ball. Occasionally reaching out carefully, running trembling fingers across the sides of the little elevator, the solid wall in front of him. Minutes felt like hours to a two-year-old speedster. No room to move. He couldn't _see _to move. He was trapped and god, his heart beat so fast it hurt. He'd be there forever - he'd _been _there forever -

But eventually the door was wrenched open. Eventually he was warm and safe in someone's arms. He had to remember that part.

At least in the cave he was standing, he tried telling himself. At least he could turn a little, and move his arms. He reached out cautiously, testing his boundaries, and much too soon for his liking his fingers met the rock that blocked his exit. Biting back something that might have been a growl or a whimper, he pulled his hands back and shut his eyes.

Moving would stir up dust, which would make him cough, which would stir up more dust, and he was _not _about to engage in that vicious cycle. He knew he didn't have air to waste.

And all at once he felt like he was being suffocated, a giant hand squeezing his throat shut.

He couldn't move_. _

What was he worth if he couldn't _move_?

"_KF!"_

* * *

"_Shit, ow...Rob?"_

Robin gritted his teeth painfully, helplessly _angry. _"I get back from Gotham just in time to almost drive into the side of the mountain when Megan starts screaming in my head - because you had to go and play _hero."_ He urged the R-cycle a little faster, tearing down the stretch of highway - the holoscreen on his gauntlet lit up his face as it located his teammates, though at the speed he was going he didn't dare glance at it for more than a few seconds at a time.

"_Uhh, that's kinda my gig." _Kid sounded okay. A little breathless, a little unsteady, but okay._ "What are you so annoyed for, no one got hurt."_

"Shut up." He hesitated for a moment, aware that the rest of the team was listening on their six-way patch-through, though thankfully keeping quiet. "How are you doing?"

_He hates the dark. He _hates _the dark. _

"_...I'm fine, Rob. You worry too much."_

Relief was like water in the desert._ As long as I keep him talking_, Robin reasoned, leaning low into a curve, _he should be okay_."I worry just enough about an idiot like you."

Kid laughed - what might've been a laugh - and started to say, _"Well, at least -_ _"_

But he was cut off by a screech of static that made Robin cringe and very nearly lose control of the motorcycle; everyone on the comm. link was shouting and the words cut apart and ran together in a string of unintelligable, incoherent nonsense.

"What?" He tried to raise his voice over the _mess _of noise in his ear. "_What?"_

_"There was a- a second explosion." _Aqualad's voice was tight and controlled, but Robin could imagine his expression vividly. _"There must have been two bombs all along. There may be more."_

His heart stopped and for a second he couldn't even feel the wind cutting across his face anymore. "Wally?"

The returning silence was like a bullet to the heart.


	3. III

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, gaiz. C: I wrote this when I was srsly about to pass out on my friend's couch soooo I'm not one hundred percent certain it won't suck. Haha...let's just have faith.

-iii-  
_slide_

Trembling was shaking was _vibrating _and sticky coolness trickled down his face from his hair and nose. Coughing was noisy and wet and he didn't want to think about why.

It was pitch black and he couldn't see. Something had happened - another explosion, maybe, a _lot _of falling rock - crying out, falling back, falling _through, _falling down -

His legs were caught under something heavy. His arms were half-buried, his face dusted with bits of gravel and dirt. For some reason, it hurt to breathe, but he wasn't thinking about that either.

His head was swimming, vision spinning dizzyingly.

Days went by.

* * *

When they lost contact with Wally, Robin was two and a half minutes away—with a little reckless endangerment, he shaved that down to about a minute forty-five seconds—and the Flash _still _got there before him.

He very nearly crashed into the side of the mountain as he screeched gracelessly to a stop, tires rolling smoke. The scarlet speedster gave him a look that any other day might have been amused as he stumbled off the motorcycle, carelessly tossing his helmet aside. "Easy, kiddo."

"Any word from him yet?" He knew he sounded freaked. Didn't care.

M'gann didn't question the urgency in his tone; she was swooped over to him quickly. "Not yet. I can't reach him – either he's blocking me intentionally, or he's unconscious, or - "

_Shut up._

She flinched as though he'd hit her, and maybe he'd remember to apologize later. He turned on Superboy. "You haven't tried shifting the rocks, right?"

"Of course not," Kaldur interrupted, adeptly diffusing what might have turned into a hostile situation, while Conner threw the Boy Wonder a sharp glare. "Superboy used his supervision to see through the rock - "

"It isn't super yet," the clone interrupted stiffly. "I didn't see him, but I...didn't want to..."

Robin felt himself relent towards the other raven-haired YJ-leaguer and offered him an understanding nod, brutally wrestling back his frustration. _Didn't want to be responsible for hurting him worse if he turned out to be wrong. _Superboy was still so much like a child in that regard. He hated uncertainty and hated himself for being uncertain; KF was the one who knew how to win a smile from him when he got like that.

He turned away from them and tapped his comm link, eyebrows furrowing behind his mask. "Wally, if you can hear me, _come in._"

The Flash was pacing back and forth in a dizzying manner - a detached part of Robin wondered not for the first time what life must be like as a speedster. A person who could utilize every minute, second, millisecond to its _fullest - _who might experience a day as a week, a week as a year, a year as a _lifetime._

"Bats said to wait for backup, but that was four minutes ago." He glanced in Robin's direction, not waiting for any kind of approval; his tone was as dangerous as the sidekicks had ever heard it.

Robin could only nod, mechanically. "He'll understand."

* * *

It was almost like being twelve again, and stuck between floors of a condemned apartment building in a stupid broken dumbwaiter.

Except this time he could barely turn his head to the side to cough out blood so he didn't _choke, _much less move around. He was stuck and he was - he was _dying, _he was dying alone -

Just like before but different and he would die.

_"Wally?"_

It sucked. Kaldur said he'd show him Atlantis some time (_promised_), and he told Megan he'd teach her how to cook lasagna (the right way). He was just beginning to get along with 'Missy - she was going to bring him back a souvenir from Star City (supposedly). He wasn't going to be able to spend anymore weekends at Wayne Manner (where Robin was Richard). Conner was finally opening up and he wouldn't be around for the clone's first laugh.

_It sucks, _he thought with surprising clarity despite the hazy fog clouding up in his head. _I wanted to be the one to make him laugh._

_"Wally!"_

At least it wouldn't hurt. His legs were numb, and he'd developed a breathing pattern that his laboring lungs didn't protest. His goggles (_cracked, ruined_) were keeping the grit out of his eyes. Everything was going dark slowly, peacefully, quietly.

And he may as well have been a twelve-year-old again, twelve years old and scared, because he _hated _the slow, the peaceful, the quiet.

He lay there, wondering how long it'd been, how long it'd be, remembering the wild, springing fear when the dumbwaiter had lurched that second time, remembering being so _scared _he couldn't move, could barely breathe, even when the door was yanked open and he was out. Remembering how _painful _the relief was when he realized who it was who'd saved him, who it was holding and rocking him with no intention of ever putting him back down.

He'd give anything if -

"Wally."

_Stop it, West, _he thought fiercly. _You saved those kids. Conner didn't get hurt. This is worth it. _

Dark. Small. Trapped.

_It is. It's worth it._

"Hey kiddo," someone said, very close. His goggles were moved carefully from over his eyes and a hand soothed hair off his forehead. "You still with me?"

_Now I'm hallucinating. Great. At least I won't be alone when I die. _

"Yeah," he muttered, trying to turn toward the touch. It may not have been real but it still felt good not to be alone.

"Good boy." Wally cracked a smile. Then the hands were gone and he might have panicked if the voice hadn't continued, "Does anything hurt?"

"Nn. Can't feel it." The pressure he'd grown accustomed to was lifted and his legs were free. Something moved near his head and then he was being gathered up into strong (familiar) arms.

And he may as well have been twelve years old again, twelve and crying as his hero rescued him from the dark and told him he'd be okay.


	4. IV

A/N: Sorry this chapter took a bit longer than the others... I hit a creative block. xD; Anyway, I'm not too sure about it (honestly I don't like it at all) so please try to enjoy despite its distinct lack of...good.

-iv-  
_slide_

Barry could count on one hand the number of times he'd had to save Wally from something stupid he'd gotten himself into, and still have several fingers left. Because honestly, Wally didn't start something unless he'd thought of a solid way out of it; the kid was smarter than that, and - well, he wasn't willing to do anything to risk his position as Kid Flash.

When he and Robin got together, well, Wally would blur the lines between safe and not in favor of fun times with the only other kid like him in the world. And Barry really couldn't blame him for it, as long as he stayed _relatively _safe. He never wanted to see Wally hurt - but he never wanted to see the joy snuffed out of those eyes either.

_"He taught me the double backflip today."_ Wally had been so thrilled and Barry couldn't help the impulse that had him reaching out to ruffle that so-red hair, even as Wally had cradled the sprained wrist in his lap. _"He said this weekend we'll work on the triple." _

Wally, with bright eyes and a bright smile. Warm, shining and essential, pivotal and central in every life he touched.

_Something like the sun. _

He remembered the boy's relentless talk of the Flash before his chemical incident ("he's the _greatest, _Barry"); he remembered Wally's eyes in the hospital and how they _shone _when he revealed everything to him - and he remembered expecting the hero talk to taper off, to wind down with the revelation that the _incredible _Flash was nothing but human - and he remembered, so clearly, how _wrong _he was.

There was an incident once with a collapsing bridge, one of Wally's first runs as a sidekick. Barry (suited and masked) was getting people out of the way topside, didn't realize Kid Flash was gone from his side until he heard people shouting, saw civilians on the highway leaning over the railing to point out something in the water as the bridge fell, and for a moment that may as well have been an hour Barry's chest clenched in icy _fear. _

He had yelled so fiercely at Wally that time, Wally who was shaking from cold and exertion and wet through, hair plastered to his face and eyes so _green _in a pale, freckled face. Barry's heart had stopped beating when Wally flickered out of sight into the sinking ship. What did he think he was _doing?_ He had had a firm grip on Wally's shoulders, not shaking him, but holding him; and somehow, Wally had slipped forward, slim arms wrapping tightly around his middle and face buried securely in the lightning bolt logo on his chest.

_"Man, that was scary," _the young sidekick had whispered with a sound that was trying hard to be a laugh, and Barry had let helpless relief win over everything else and wrapped Wally up in an embrace so tight it had him off the ground. And he was proud, too - Wally had saved every person in the ship before it could submerge completely. He could feel Wally's muffled grin at the backhanded praise.

But he wouldn't forget the feeling of it as Wally passed out in his arms. How small and lifeless he was as Barry arranged him carefully bridal-style, head lolling and silent. It had _unnerved _him. That this boy, this _child, _who wore his colors and his logo and smiled up at him with all the adoration in the world, was training to someday be the one in his position. The one left standing in face of the fallen, arms wrapped tight around a loved one who couldn't hear his voice.

He'd clutched Wally tighter and wished he could will into him the strength to do the impossible.

_Defy fate, _he'd tried to impress upon the boy in that instant. _Defy everything. Be strong enough that you can. _

As Barry phased back through the solid rock, his nephew cradled tightly in his arms in a manner that wasn't unfamiliar and the other sidekicks rushing forward with pale faces and worried eyes that begged the questions they were scared to ask, the older speedster figured that Wally was as strong as he ever needed to be.

There would be people there for him that day, to carry him when his legs finally gave out. And somehow, as Wally's friends crowded forward and the young speedster shifted closer to full consciousness in face of their raised voices and concerns, Barry got the idea that Wally knew that very well.

* * *

Batman wasn't happy, but that wasn't anything new. He was disappointed the YJ-league had lost the perp so completely and in so little time, but he'd been careful not to imply that it had anything to do with Wally. Tensions were high in The Cave, and Superboy was looking for any excuse to punch someone through a wall.

Plus - though he wouldn't admit - Batman _liked _Wally. There was no one else in the world who knew their secret identities and came over (religiously) every weekend even if there was absolutely nothing to do. He flitted around the manor like it was as much of a home as his uncle's house, and frequented the Batcave like an honorary member of the Bat-family.

Bruce approved of him at first, Robin knew, because Robin didn't have any friends and Wally was a good one. But there were times Wally could somehow make Bruce - _Batman _- smile (by a generous definition), and talk his way out of just about anything - not because his _argument _was good, per se, but more because Bruce usually ended up more amused than irritated.

So - Wally was special. _I knew that, _the boy wonder thought as he turned from the computer to face his friends. _Not like I needed convincing._

* * *

"Wally - I really don't think he'll be thrilled for you guys to know," Robin was saying with an elegant look of distaste on his face, "but there's nothing for it since it's kinda out in the open now. He's claustrophobic - _really _claustrophobic."

Superboy stared at him, trying to make sense of the word in relation to Wally. Surprisingly, the two fit together rather well. Wally didn't seem like the kind of person to do well in a small place; he was too...alive. Too restless and far-sighted to be alright in a small space. Too much at home with himself and everyone else, with the _world, _to be okay alone.

"He's alright when there's someone there, but - take away his room to run and he'll get scared." Batman's protege snapped his eyes to theirs, each in turn, as if a thought he didn't like had suddenly occurred to him but he wasn't sure how to voice it. After a moment he seemed to shrug it off and said, "So now you know his kryptonite."

Kaldur spoke up, and then Megan, but Superboy wasn't hearing them.

_He could've gotten out. _It was a thought that had been plaguing his mind for hours. Wally's expression from that moment was stuck in his head; bright green eyes warm with something Conner didn't recognize, and a smile that spoke volumes in a language Conner couldn't read. _He could've grabbed the kids and ran out past me. The rocks would have hurt but I wouldn't have died._

When the Flash carried him out, Wally was - still. And there was so much blood, staining his face and the yellow of his costume. Flash reassured them with a gentleness Conner had never heard from any of the other heroes, and allowed them to crowd around for a few precious moments and reassure themselves - a graciousness that solidly set him apart. He told them Wally had probably vibrated himself through the wall of the mineshaft as the rocks came down - a reflex that his body had jumped to despite not really being ready for it. He'd gotten a little beaten up, one of his legs might be broken, a few cracked ribs -

_"But don't worry," _the scarlet speedster had told them with a smile. _"He'll be okay. He's tougher than you think."_

But Conner had never doubted that.


	5. Epilogue

A/N: So, does anyone else think it's really cute that before The Cave was finished, Connie stayed at Wally's place? And Batman was like "Here's a credit card, go have some fun!" Not really. But he sent them a loaded card, and the two of them went out to compile Supey a wardrobe of cargo pants and tight shirts. C:

Anywho, last chapter! I am _so sorry _this is late (really late), but honestly Writer's Block was being insurmountable. I'm doing this during finals, actually, I have an hour and a half in the library and _nothing to do _since my flashdrive disappeared and I can't watch How to Train Your Dragon now. FML.

Also, no pairings here. Just bromance.

-epilogue-  
_slide_

"For the _last time, _this time," Wally said carefully, enunciating every word as though Conner might have been hard of hearing, "I can't explain it any better than that. You would've gotten hurt, so I pushed you out of the way."

"You kicked me," the clone corrected so seriously that Robin, watching from the live feed, had to grin even as Wally threw up his hands in exasperation.

"Whatever! I _removed _you from the situation." A moment later, pain seemed to catch up with him, and he put a hand to his ribs with a wince.

Conner frowned. "You shouldn't be moving around. The Flash said it'll be at least a week until you're back on your feet."

The speedster laughed humorlessly, and Robin winced at his expression. "It'll feel like a month," he promised, struggling to dredge up a more honest smile. "So you guys better keep me entertained."

Superboy was staring at him with that frown still on his face, obviously trying to work out an enigma and having limited success. Robin wished him luck; Wally was hard for _him_ to figure out sometimes, and he had the added advantage of knowing him better than almost anyone.

But Wally was watching him, and his expression warmed into one of fondness. "Alright, big guy, I'll bite." His voice was semi-normal again and Robin smiled. "What's on your mind?"

"You're hard for me to understand," Conner said bluntly. "You could have _died—_for nothing—and you don't regret your decision at all."

Wally gave him a crooked smile. "It's sad to hear you talk that way, bro. It wouldn't have been for _nothing, _it would have been for you." The clone looked even more uncomprehending and Wally chuckled, moving on. "And I wouldn't have died, don't be melodramatic—we had enough of that from Miss M." That was _very _true; Robin and Conner both conceded with a nod.

Robin watched him as he said it, though, the way his fingers tightened for an instant on the quilt Megan had almost suffocated him with, the way his eyes grew a little vacant and his next breath shook.

_For a minute down there, he must have really thought he was a goner._

"But you _could _have died," Conner pushed relentlessly, eyes bright with the effort of understanding.

"Nope." The subtle insecurity in his face was replaced by shining confidence, so quickly Robin was blinking. "Not possible, Conman."

"Why not?"

"Because the Flash will bail me out, every time." He grinned. "And I have the best team ever. Even if he hadn't been there—" _yeah right, _the boy wonder thought dryly "—you guys always will be. I have complete faith in you, one hundred percent."

It wasn't fair that someone could say that so easily and _mean_ it with everything, Robin decided firmly, trying to control the way his heart had sped up with Wally's declaration.

_Not fair, _he thought, _but I don't mind._

"We're a team, Conner," Wally was saying, "and I'm glad I got to save you for once."

Robin rested his chin in his hand, smiling at the pair of them as something very close to happiness lit up Conner's eyes, and he leaned over to knock his fist against Wally's, carefully minding the speedster's broken wrist.

"Let me get the next one, KF."

"You got it, Supes."

fin.


End file.
